Munchie Monday: Pad Thai!

 Sometimes I hanker for something different.  Many years ago I had some Pad Thai somewhere and really liked it. I have realized since then that Pad Thai is more or less a clean-out-the-refrigerator dish but so good even though it is impossible to replicate exactly.  This time I made it from a recipe, sort of.

Brittany Jaroudi has posted a recipe on her YouTube channel that worked for us. Dear One said it was okay.  That is high praise!  As you know!.  

We had the sauce made from her recipe:

1/2 cup cooked white beans
2 Tablespoons peanut butter or a little more
1 Tablespoon lime juice
1 Tablespoon white miso or a little more
2 pitted Deglet Noor dates
1 large clove garlic
1/2 cup water

All these ingredients I put in our high speed blender until they looked beautiful and smooth.

We had some Udon noodles in the freezer that I thawed and boiled with the peas and corn that I also brought out of the freezer.  When they were happily soft and cooked through I drained them and threw back in the pot. After pouring the sauce on top and mixing well, I set it on the table and held my breath, hoping for the best. I was pretty happy Dear One liked it okay. I will try to replicate it!

This may not look appetizing because there are no fun toppings or a nicely wiped down dish before taking the picture, but is really was so good. We have other noodles we will try next time.

Food Friday: Air Fried Potato Spears/Wedges

 As you can tell from the recent dearth of blog posts, life has been quite the thing lately.  Finally here is a simple to make and quick and easy food item to share.

Since I love baked potatoes and also since I hate to heat up the oven and the kitchen with just two potatoes in the oven, I threw in six large harvest baking potatoes yesterday.  We each ate one as a baked potato.  They were so good.  I COVERED mine with fresh salsa from Sam's Club.  Yummy.

So, there were four left over.  This morning I cut two of them into wedges/spears lengthwise, used a tiny bit of oil spray on them then sprinkled on salt-free seasoning for a little umph. Then killed the benefit of salt-free by sprinkling a very tiny bit of iodized salt on top.  At this point I put them in the air fryer for 20 minutes at 375 degrees F.  They were done just as Dear One returned from his bike ride so we just sat down and ate them.  

They were nice and crispy, crunchy on the outside and soft inside. I used a lot of catsup on mine since that came to hand before the salsa, but the salsa would also have been good with these spears.

For our next meal I am planning to cut the remaining two potatoes in half, pull out the flesh, mix it with seasonings, then return to the waiting skins and bake in the oven until hot.  Or maybe use the air fryer on the baking option. We shall see.  That with slaw and veggie burger should be a good meal.  

For myself I might eat some leftover "cabbage soup" stuff that I made using some bags of nearly-gone-by slaw mix, some broccoli, and some mixed cauliflower and broccoli, as well as the last of the tomato juice plus carrots and two chopped onions.  This was only okay.  It was probably good the first go round in the Instant Pot, but I set it going then forgot about it when I went out to do some needed RS work.  When I came home it had gone off Keep Warm so I started it to pressurize again just in case a few germs might have invaded and the same thing happened...so it was pressurized three times.  Dear One ate part of a bowl but said it was bitter.  My fault entirely.  So, I will not inflict it upon him again but feel like I need to give it another try myself before disposing of it another way.

With good fortune I will get life together and become more regular in posting again.  No breath holding, though...!

Munchie Monday: Easy Eggless Frittata

 Today I made some supper that Dear One liked more than usual!  That makes me so happy.

Brittany Jaroudi of The Jaroudi Family on YouTube put up a recipe a few months ago that I did not bite on until today.  It is called Easy Eggless Frittata.  You should go to her YouTube channel to watch her make it and listen to her directions.  I did it a little bit differently. It was still good!

Easy Eggless Frittata

1/2 cup chick pea (garbanzo/besom/gram--all the same thing) flour
1 cup brown rice flour
1 1/2 cups unflavored unsweetened soy milk (I used Westsoy)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
1 teaspoon granulated onion
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground pink Himalayan salt
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 cup thawed garden green peas
1/2 cup thawed whole kernel corn

1/4 cup dried minced onions, rehydrated in broth for 30 minutes to make about 1/2 cup

In a large bowl whisk all the dry ingredients.  Add in the non-dairy milk and stir until the texture of pancake batter.  Add in the vegetables and stir well.

Pour into a 8- or 9-inch silicon cake tin.  Place on a pizza pan and bake in a 350 degrees F. oven for 35 minutes.  

Remove from oven and let cool until completely cool.  When cool, carefully use a table knife to go around the edge of the cake pan to be sure you will be able to remove  the frittata from the pan.

Eat it plain. Eat it with a dill pickle slice on every other bite.  Eat it with catsup on it.  Eat it any way you like it.

When asking Dear One his view, he said it was all right. High praise indeed.  He said it could use more corn.  That is easy to do.  I asked if I should adjust the seasoning. He said,"No!"  I am thrilled he liked the seasoning.  He usually thinks things are too bland or too spicy.

All in all, I call this a success. 

 It is especially nice because after a week in quarantine I am ready to be sprung.  Tomorrow is the day!  Yay!  I did go over to the church to meet with the bishop yesterday after most people had gone.  Yes, I was wearing a mask.  I wondered if the car would start after a week of sitting in the garage.

A few nice things happened as a result of this enforced time at home but maybe I will tell you later.  One thing is that we managed to eat almost all the leftovers in the refrigerator and now you can actually see the shelves.  If we had to be quarantined another week we would have absolutely everything gone and many things from the freezer.  Such a good thing.

Food Friday: Quick and Easy Peanut Butter Fudge, Sort Of

 Another thing we were going to take to the party this past week that we had to stay home from was some peanut butter fudge, so to speak.

Quick and Easy Peanut Butter Fudge

16 ounces white candy melts
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts.

In a double boiler place the candy melts and stir over medium heat until they are melted.  Don't walk away because if they get too hot, they will be grainy.

Remove double boiler from the stove.  Stir in the peanut butter and the walnuts then spread in a square pan OR as I did, I used a small portion scoop and placed a scoop in each well of a 24-well silicon pan.

Place in the refrigerator for two or three hours.

Remove from pan and enjoy.

This is the remaining amount of pieces.  Actually, as I am typing there are far fewer pieces still available.  It turns out Dear One really likes this sweet!  I am so happy.  I asked him if he liked them (having seen him eat two in a row!) and he said they were okay.  His favorite fudge is chocolate walnut fudge.  Maybe I can find a recipe for that....

Knitting Tales

 Some years ago I was at a thrift store...places I REALLY enjoy shopping.  In that thrift store I found a green thing with a spindle on it.  I thought it was be great for hold my yarn cakes.  Since it was only $2.00 I did not feel like I could go wrong. So I bought it.

Not long after that I was at another thrift store I found another spindle.  This one was white. I wondered if it would work with the green spindle stand, so I bought that, too.  At least that is how I remember the story.  If someone gave it to me, I hope you will forgive me for not remembering...

Here it is with the price tag still on it!  I think I have seen these knitting tools referred to as "yarn butlers".  Yesterday I got it out and started using it with the test knitting project I took on recently.  IT WORKS GREAT!!  I am so happy with it.

The yarn feeds off the outside of the yarn cake just as smooth as butter.

Just wasting time on Amazon I find they call this a Yarn Valet Dispenser.

I am so grateful for this knitting tool.

Knitting Closet Improvements...

 When our family was definitely coming to visit I needed to make a few changes.  Well, I thought it would be a good idea to make a few changes.  One of them was that I needed to stop knitting on our daughter's Elizabeth Zimmerman Yoked Cardigan sweater.  I was spending a lot of time on it and really, it was in a great place to stop: the body was complete up to the yoke, the left arm was completed and the right arm had only a few more rounds to go before the sleeves and body could be joined together.  Though now that I think of it, I might have finished that up to the yoke, too.  Will have to check...

Because of the disorderly way I knit: all the different yarn cakes, all the different needles, and all the instructions I have printed out for myself, are all spread out before me in my lap, on my metal music stand, and definitely all over the floor on my right, there was no way that could continue when we have family coming.  Especially grandchildren who were planning to sleep on the floor.  There was very little floor space.  SO...I had to do something.

The fiber closet needed to be fixed.  When I opened the door there were bins and tubs and bags of all kinds of fiber-y things chest high and all the way out to the door.  It was very difficult to get what I wanted.  Heck, it was even hard to know where what I wanted was located.

What to do...?  The first thing I did was pull everything out of the closet into the workroom.  Now it was impossible to move in the workroom but the lovely thing was that I found some bags of yarn I was willing to let go.  So I gave them away.  

The next thing I did was to pull out the huge bin and the smaller bins of roving and combed top that was ready for spinning and other bins of fiber needing cleaning and combing.  Everything that I wanted to keep I found a place for in my closet in the bedroom.  Well, I did not throw anything away.  At least not yet.

Finally I packed up our daughter's sweater and all the yarn to be used in it, or even to POTENTIALLY use in the yoke (I have not totally committed myself to the design for the yoke at this point) into a big gray bin.  I put the gauge-swatch-sweater on top of the bin-thinking that would remind me where DD's sweater was if it took a while to get back to it...--, replaced all the other knitting yarns in their bins into the closet then stacked the gray "daughter bin" on top where I could easily get to it.

NOW THE CLOSET WAS ACCESSIBLE!!! 

When you look at the carpet there you can see that there is an indentation where other tubs were stored.  Since they were chest high and came all the way out to the door, you will understand that the closet really was just this side of unusable.

With that empty space on the floor, I can tell you that it gives me joy and peace to open the closet door now and know that I can get to whatever I need.  I am happy.

In the interest in full disclosure, to the left of the doorway there are bins and tubs that go all the way up to the rack so it isn't THAT great in there, but at least I can get to them.  Also there are zip bags of many started projects hanging on the rack...easy to get to now.

You can see that I have enough yarn to complete any project I want to make.  Getting the used Brother KX350 knitting machine (very old, missing accessories, but still usable) was an effort to  be able to use up yarn faster.  My goal is to use up all the yarn in the closet in the next year.  Well, maybe two years.  Or even three years.  THEN and only then, will I buy more yarn...I hope.  Stay strong, Girl. Stay strong.

Munchie Monday: Instant Pot Corn Pudding!

 We were planning to attend a barbecue today.  I wanted to make something new to contribute to the festive board and had been thinking about corn pudding. I found a recipe and made it!  Very good.  Well, very good tasting.

Someone named Dee on the internet put it up. I made it a little differently.  The recipe below is how I made it.

Instant Pot Corn Pudding

1 egg
1 box Jiffy Cornmeal Muffin Mix
1 can creamed corn
1 can whole kernel corn, drained (saved the liquid for vegetable broth)
1 Tablespoon dried onion flakes
1 small can green chilis
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup melted butter

In a large bowl I mixed all the ingredients then divided the mixture into two Anchor Hocking glass loaf pans that I had greased. They were smallish loaf pans, smaller than you would use for making bread.  I put a sheet of parchment over each loaf pan then sealed it with aluminum foil. (The parchment paper was to keep aluminum from dripping into the food...not that this is a possibility but I had the parchment and it seemed like a good idea.  Cannot afford to lose any more gray matter...)

In our 8-quart Instant Pot I put the trivet and 2 cups water then placed the first loaf pan inside.  At this point I placed a rack that a dear friend gave  me that was intended to go into a roasting pan. It worked perfectly there to hold up the second loaf pan. I then put the other loaf pan in on top of that rack in a crisscross fashion.  I moved it around a little bit so it would not interfere with the pressurizing.

This is when I started the Instant Pot cooking. We used HIGH pressure for 45 minutes then let the pudding come down to no pressure naturally.

This pudding was very tasty, as my mother-in-law used to say.  Next time I will reduce the fats in half. I think it will still be delicious.  I was just listening to a podcast where the expert was telling all the world that carbohydrates (and by this he was NOT referring to refined carbohydrates like cookies, cake, ice cream,  chips, etc.) are not the problem. Fat is.  This corn pudding moved from a perfectly reasonable vegetable/starch into a depraved fat-filled food that should probably have been tossed out before the first bite was eaten.  But it wasn't...

Food Friday: Third and Final Post about Chocolate Banana Bread!

 On April 20, 2021 I posted this recipe:

Chocolate Banana Bread

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour leveled with a knife
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 stick salted butter at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cup mashed bananas approximately 4 very ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

This is, of course, just the ingredients but you can go back to April for the directions if you want to make it.

This week I made the bread again.  I doubled the batch because I had that many bananas needing to be used up.  Poor planning on the grocery shopping, I guess.  OR incorrect expectations about how many bananas we would eat in a given amount of time. I need to get it together.  This week I have used up a lot of food from the refrigerator and hope only to buy onions until the rest is used up and the refrigerator is empty. At least mostly empty.  But I digress as Dear Myrtle Your Friend in Genealogy is wont to say!  I love her.  She is so helpful.

Anyway, I have decided I will not make this recipe again.  Don't get me wrong, it does taste nice.  The problem is that I have not figured out how to get it out of the pans in good shape. I think it is too soft.  I have a good mind to try some regular banana bread and see what happens using the same pans.  Maybe.

The first loaf broke coming out of the pan.  The second loaf (in the bottom side up pan) also broke.  The silicon pan loaf sunk like a stone even though the loaves cooked for more than the allotted time...though as I am writing, I am thinking that with three loaves in the oven I should have added even more time.

This is the chocolate banana bread in a bowl.  It is more like a pudding, it is that soft.  Well, like what I remember our mother calling "cottage pudding" over which she put a sauce, often a boiled cider sauce and sometimes a lemon sauce.  That might have been nice.  Maybe even a greater guilding of the lily by making a chocolate sauce...?  No, that would have been just nasty.

Anyway, last time on the chocolate banana bread here.  It does taste good.  Just not sturdy enough for me.  I was able to give away most of it which was a real blessing.